Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119
א Aleph
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
and who seek Him with all their heart.
3 They also do no wrong;
they walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us
to keep Your precepts diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were established
to keep Your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be ashamed,
when I have my focus on all Your commandments.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart,
when I have learned Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
do not completely abandon me.
ב Beth
9 How shall a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek You;
do not allow me to wander from Your commandments.
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O Lord;
teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I declare
all the decrees of Your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies,
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts
and keep my eyes on Your ways.
16 I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
ג Gimel
17 Deal kindly with Your servant, that I may live
and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things from Your law.
19 I am a sojourner in the land;
do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul is consumed all the time
with a longing for Your decrees.
21 You have rebuked the proud, those cursed,
who depart from Your commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Even if princes sit and conspire against me,
Your servant will meditate on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight
and my counselors.
Psalm 12
For the Music Director. According to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord, for the godly man comes to an end,
for the faithful disappear from sons of men.
2 They speak empty words, each with his own neighbor;
they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
3 The Lord will cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 who have said, “With our tongue will we prevail;
our lips are in our control, who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered,
because the needy sigh,
now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words;
they are silver tried in an earthen furnace
refined seven times.
7 You will keep them, O Lord;
You will preserve them from this generation.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
when the worthless of mankind are exalted.
Psalm 13
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me for good?
How long will you hide Your face from me?
2 How long will I harbor cares in my soul
and sorrow in my heart by day?
How long will my enemy loom over me?
3 Take note and answer me, O Lord my God!
Brighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have him,”
lest my foes exult when I stumble.
5 I for my part confide in Your kindness;
may my heart exult in Your salvation!
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 14(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek God.
3 They all turn aside,
together they become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat my people as they eat bread,
but do not call on the Lord?
5 There they were in great fear,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You shame the counsel of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord turns back the captivity of His people,
Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be glad.
3 But Zedekiah the king sent Jehukal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4 Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him into prison. 5 At that time Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying: 7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to the king of Judah who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Pharaoh’s army which has come out to help you shall return to Egypt, to its own land. 8 The Chaldeans will come again and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart. 10 For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them, yet every man would rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11 Now when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people. 13 When he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are falling away to the Chaldeans!”
14 But Jeremiah said, “It is false! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans,” but he did not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 Therefore the officials were wrathful with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
16 For Jeremiah had entered the dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell, and Jeremiah had remained there many days. 17 Then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out; and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people that you have put me in prison? 19 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’? 20 Therefore now please listen, O my lord the king. Please let my supplication be accepted before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison and give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was finished. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
13 Let him who speaks in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, when you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the unlearned say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, seeing he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than you all. 19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; rather be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the law it is written:
“With men of other tongues
and other lips
I will speak to this people;
but even then they will not hear Me,”[a]
says the Lord.
22 So tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers. But prophesying does not serve unbelievers, but believers. 23 Therefore if the whole church assembles in one place and all speak with tongues, and those who are unlearned or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if all prophesy and there comes in one who does not believe or one unlearned, he is convinced by all and judged by all. 25 Thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. And so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.
24 “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household?
Whom to Fear(A)
26 “Therefore do not fear them. For nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light. And what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Therefore do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows.
Confessing and Denying Christ(B)
32 “Whoever will confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever will deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.